The numbers don’t lie in Aurora.
Last year, Aurora Public Schools didn’t have one traditional school rated “excellent” by the state. Students scored 20 percentage points or more below the state average in almost all areas tested. And proficiency rates in key subject areas, such as reading and math, were either flat or heading south for most grades tested.
Of course, it’s no coincidence that the number of challenging students enrolling in the district has skyrocketed at the same time. The number of poor students has jumped by 35 percent in the past six years, while the percentage of students who don’t speak English has more than doubled – from 16 percent to almost 40 percent.
The demographic changes, spotlighted in a recent Denver Post story by Allison Sherry, have been called seismic. The makeup of the schools changed almost overnight, but administrators failed to recognize the shifts and adapt.
Teacher training was sorely lacking. APS has about 2,000 teachers, but only 150 are qualified to teach English-language acquisition.
Enter Superintendent John Barry, a former two-star Air Force general hired last summer to transform Aurora’s schools. He says he doesn’t want to dwell on past problems or place blame for the district’s current fix. Not wanting to blame anyone publicly is fine, but certainly he knows that learning from past mistakes is the surest way to avoid repeating those mistakes.
His goal is simple: to graduate every student and have them enroll in college and not need remediation. The solution, however, is much more complex.
Barry’s Vista 2010 plan sets goals for training more than 100 teachers a year in English-language teaching; a more structured curriculum; standards-based grading; full- day kindergarten; and incentives to keep kids in school all day.
He’s also reaching out to business and civic leaders for help.
The challenges are immense. Educators know that poverty, especially among immigrant families, is hard to overcome. And the demographics in Aurora aren’t going to change quickly again.
Just having Barry stand up and demand excellence from his staff and students is a good start.
But it will take a communitywide effort – civic leaders, teachers and parents who are willing to carry children on their shoulders – to greatly improve the district. Time is of the essence.
